House prices stabilize in Beijing property market

THE property market in northern China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region stabilized in April after authorities implemented a string of measures to contain price hikes, according to an official survey released Monday.

In Beijing and Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province, new residential house prices rose 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent month on month in April respectively, while Tianjin saw a month-on-month decline of 0.1 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

In April, the new residential house prices in Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang saw a year-on-year growth of 17.4 percent, 18.1 percent and 18 percent respectively.

Since October last year, the Chinese government has implemented a slew of measures to cool growth in housing prices, including restrictions on home purchases and increased minimum downpayment requirements.

The latest round of restrictions comes after more than two years of policy easing, starting with relaxation of purchase restrictions in 2014, and fueled by the pro-growth policies, including interest rate cuts.